A contractor convicted of bribing former St. John the Baptist Parish President Bill Hubbard got a light slap from the state Board of Ethics on Friday.

File photoRay Davezac

Though the board approved a consent agreement with Ray Davezac acknowledging that he violated state ethics law in his actions with Hubbard, the board declined to issue its own penalty, instead relying on the contractor's federal sentence as punishment.

Approval of the consent agreement came over the strong objections of board Chairman Frank Simoneaux, who said Davezac should not have been let off the hook without facing penalties for breaking state law.

"I think it's been handled too leniently," Simoneaux said during the meeting, noting that the gravity of the offense and Davezac's personal gain from his crime both pointed to some kind of punishment.

Simoneaux, of Baton Rouge, and board member Scott Schneider, of Mandeville, both voted against the agreement while the other six board members voted in favor of it.

In 2010, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier sentenced Davezac to six months in prison and hit him with a $20,000 fine after the Destrehan contractor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery involving a public official.

The consent agreement and federal law enforcement say that Davezac, who owned Davezac Consulting, gave Hubbard a $5,000 check to use as a down payment on a vehicle for the then-parish president's girlfriend. The consent agreement states that Hubbard approached Davezac and asked for the payment.

Davezac had been seeking, and eventually received, a $988,000 contract with parish at the time. The St. John Parish Council canceled that contract after the bribery came to light.

Federal authorities have said that Parson & Sanderson Inc. also gave Hubbard $5,000 and Pipeworks Plumbing and Demolition gave the parish president $10,000.

The size of the contract, and Davezac's ability to afford a financial penalty, were both factor's in Simoneaux's opposition to a consent agreement that did not punish the contractor. Simoneaux said the Board of Ethics should have looked into Davezac's finances before making an agreement.

"There should have been a consideration of gain together with the gravity of the offense," he said.

Hubbard resigned from office in 2009 and pleaded guilty to soliciting bribes. He began a 42-month sentence in federal prison in March and was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community services in St. John. Four months later, the Board of Ethics approved a consent agreement in which he acknowledged what he had done. That agreement also did not include any punishment.